1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to network communications systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for network element fault information processing.
2. Background Information
A known telecommunications management system is the Navis Core™ Element Management System from Lucent Technologies of Murray Hill, N.J. Navis Core is a centralized service and network management application. It can provide standards-based management and control of telecommunications network elements of networks such as frame relay, Switched Multimegabit Data Service (“SMDS”), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (“ATM”), and Internet Protocol (“IP”) switch networks. Navis Core includes a distributed and multiservice element manager and is a graphically integrated UNIX-based platform that provides a network management solution based on Telecommunications Network Management (“TNM”) standards.
Navis Core can speed circuit provisioning with point-and-click operations to establish end-to-end network connectivity and provides a variety of traps for alarm indications and statistics logic for elements in the switch network such as switches, trunks, physical ports, logical ports, permanent virtual circuits (“PVCs”), switched virtual circuits, and so on. A Navis Core user can use network statistics for real-time status information on logical and physical ports and view key usage data on such interfaces for network planning and trend analysis. Network element faults (i.e., network faults) can be reported to a central repository where a Navis Core operator can access the network element fault information.
A central repository receiving the reported network element faults is typically one or more Navis Core servers. The Navis Core servers record the reported element network faults in files typically called trap logs. Examples of trap log information are as follows:                985885337 1 Thu Mar 29 12:02:17 2001 NWORLAMABB1—Switch nwor1amabb1 interface up (SNMP linkUp trap) on LPort 60QGDA500180_LMC(14,7);1.1.3.6.1.4.1.277.10.0.10003 0;        985885337 7 Thu Mar 29 12:02:17 2001 NWORLAMABB1—LPort 60QGDA500180_LMC(14,7) at switch nwor1amabb1 is up with Customer Name SUPERS_SUPERMARKET.;3 .1.3.6.1.4.1.277.10.0.30 0; and        985885533 7 Thu Mar 29 12:05:33 2001 NWORLAMABB1—LPort 60QGDA500180_LMC(14,7) in switch nwor1amabb1 is up, following PVCs is also up: HOUM_SUPERS_SUPERMARKE—100—99 NWOR_SUP ERS_SUPERMARK ET—100—101 NWOR_SUPERS_SUPERMARKET—100—103 NWOR_SUPERS_SU PERMARKET—100—104 NWOR_SUPERS_SUP ERMARKET—100—105 NWOR_R OUSES_SUPERMARKET—100—106 NO WR_SUPERS_SUPERMARKET—100—107 NWOR_SUPERS_SUPERMAR KET—100—108 NWOR_SUPERS_SUPERMARKE T—100—109 NWOR_SUP ERS_SUPERMARKET—110—110 NWOR_SUPERS_MR KT_NNI_BTR—20 2—758 HOUM_SUPERS_SUPERMARKET—203—203.;1.1.3.6.1.4.1.277.10. 0.10009.        
Trap logs and other network element fault information can indicate network fault events but are cumbersome to search and display. For example, if a customer of a network services provider complains about service problems (e.g., loss of service, degrading of service levels, and so on) a network technician can retrieve and sequentially review the trap logs to determine information about the customer's network services. In view of the foregoing, it can be appreciated that a substantial need exists for systems and methods that can advantageously provide for network element fault information processing.